Blog

Mar14 2017

Staying safe on social media

When online we often take our safety for granted. However, our social media accounts can provide a great deal of identifying information about us, including our location, workplace, and areas we often like to visit. It's important to keep this information private so we can stay safe from potential predators when we are out and about. Here are a few important tips on keeping your information private across the most popular social media apps.

Facebook

By thinking about your personal circumstances, and trying to imagine potentially dangerous situations in advance, you'll feel more confident when you're out and about and mitigate the likelyhood of a bad situation. Here are some helpful hints.

Check your tagged photos. Business's social media accounts are public, so if you've been out to a bar/club and are tagged in one of their photos, everyone will be able to see it.

The 'Nearby Friends' feature tells you where your friends are. If you don't wish to have your entire friends list aware of when you're nearby, then simply open the Facebook app, tap on more from the menu and tap on the settings icon where you can then turn the feature off.

'Check-In's' are another feature that displays your location to your entire Facebook audience. Checking-in at restaurants, movies or sporting venues can reveal your exact location to people within your audience you may not know.

Instagram

Make your account private. This allows you to control who sees your posts. Keep a look out for people who appear suspicious or try to distract you. It's important to keep a safe distance and call for help if you need it.

Avoid excessive "check-ins". Checking into a location tells the world where you like to go regularly (this goes for Facebook as well).

Never post personal information. For example, it may be tempting to upload a photo of your university acceptance letter, but letters contain your name, address, and sometimes even your phone number. Think twice before posting.

Snapchat

Never add anyone you don't know personally on Snapchat. This social platform provides live updates of where you are and who you are with.

This is another platform to be wary of. Your profile contains your place of work, so people can find where you are during work hours.

Social media is great for connecting with your friends and family, but it's important you stay safe online and off. So be sure to use these tips for Instagram, Linkedin, Facebook and Snapchat. But for those situations that you can't predict and "just in case" moments, always make sure you have the Safe Haven App on stand-by. To learn more about the app, visit this page: www.safehavenapp.com/how-it-works

You can download the Threat Protect Safe Haven App to your iPhone or Android at their respective app stores now!